Maturing
by Dramatic-ADD-Having-ass-Writer
Summary: Five years after Callie and Brandon ran away from home to be together, they return in the most unexpected way. (NOTE: This will be a Brallie, but there will also be a lot of Stef/Callie interactions. All other characters included. AU of course)
1. Chapter 1

**I'm a nut. I know. 5 fics at once. I'm officially a loca. But this idea was bothering the hell out of me, and I had to write it!**

**Stef's P.O.V.**

I arrive at work today and I feel completely exhausted. Gavin had a nightmare last night and slept in mine and Lena's bed.

Her idea.

Definitely not mines.

I keep telling her, that he's going to get accustomed to it and start thinking, that he could sleep with us every night. But she doesn't listen.

I know that she believes me, and that she knows better. But she always gives into his puppy-dog eyes, and it's because of this that he sees me as the mean mommy.

And now I'm here, barely able to function, because Gavin kept digging his feet into my back all night, every time I was finally able to pass out.

Not to mention, he literally kicked me off of the bed at 3am, so I just started my morning from there.

"Morning, Stef," Captain Robert's says as I grab my cup of coffee.

"Morning, mam," I say, but I can tell that she has something on her mind. "What's up?"

"Okay, so it seems that Martinez has been transferred over to another unit."

I look over at her and as I tried to hide the slight smile that formed on my face, "Wow…I thought he'd last a little longer," I say sarcastically. She knew that I despised the man. Or should I say kid. Martinez was only 23 years old, and I hardly felt like he had my back half of the time. He was an arrogant, prejudice, wannabe detective, who constantly under-minded me. Putting up with that for two years was far from easy.

I was screaming with excitement in my head when I heard her words.

It seems as if she knew it, because she was giving me a Yeah-right-I-know-you're-happy-as-hell look.

"So, I'm getting a new partner?" I ask excitedly but also nervously. I can't help but wonder, _What if he's Martinez x100?_

"Yes, that's what I wanted to talk to you about actually."

"What's he like?" I try to sound cool about it.

"She," Roberts corrected.

"A woman?" I ask surprised. I've only ever had male partners, and it would definitely be a first for me.

"Yes," she nods her head and looks down at the floor.

"Is she here?" I ask glancing around the room, while taking a sip of my coffee. It's way too hot though, and I end up burning my tongue immediately.

"She's right behind you," Roberts says as she points in back of me.

I whirl around slowly.

The moment I see her, I drop my mug on the floor, causing the porcelain to shatter and the coffee to splatter all over my shoes.

"Callie?" I ask in complete shock.

**DUN. DUN. DUN.**

**Okay, should I continue? **

**This idea was bugging me for a week and I finally gave in.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I decided to continue this (Duh, as you can tell by the update). But anywho, I appreciate all of you who reviewed/favorited/followed this fic.**

* * *

**Callie's P.O.V.**

The moment Stef sees me she freezes and immediately drops her coffee mug onto the floor.

The 30 seconds that she spends just staring at me with her mouth open feels like the longest 30 seconds of my life.

"Callie?" I finally hear her say in shock.

I smile at her and nod my head, completely unsure of how she is going to react.

_She remembers me. That's a start._

Then I remember that it was my decision to come back.

_I was the one that said I was ready._

I should be the one to approach her first.

Even though, I honestly was afraid, that she'd developed a strong hate for me over the years.

_For stealing her son from her._

_And for abandoning them all._

I slowly make my way over to her, and Captain Roberts walks away, leaving us alone.

"Hey, Stef," I say as I offer her my hand to shake, but she doesn't take it. Instead she keeps her eyes focused on my own, and I have to glance down to shake my fear away.

_This is exactly what I was afraid of._

I begin to question my decision to come back.

_I knew that there was a purpose,_

_And that the purpose was worth it._

_But I couldn't help but feel like a complete failure at this very moment._

I remove my un-touched hand from the air and walk around blonde woman, grabbing the coffee pot and filling a mug for myself.

She still hasn't moved an inch from where she had been standing, which didn't put me at ease either.

Suddenly, I wish she had reacted.

If she was angry, I wanted her to show it.

This silence was a thousand times worse than any reaction she could have concocted.

I take a small sip of the black coffee and glance around to look for the Captain, but she's nowhere to be found.

I glance down at my mug, and before I take another sip I quickly stop myself as I remember the reason why I came.

_I'm not supposed to be drinking coffee. _

The coffee mug drops onto the floor too, causing the hot liquid to splatter over the floor again.

"Crap!" I whisper as I quickly bend over and start picking up all of the porcelain pieces that we both dropped onto the floor. _Nice going, Callie! _I yell in my head. As soon as I grab most of the pieces, I walk over to the garbage can to throw them out.

But by the time I turn around, Stef isn't standing in the same spot where she had been just a few seconds ago.

In fact, I don't see her at all.

I try my best not to cry at the fact that she really thought she had to run from me.

Instead I grab some paper towels and try to soak up the coffee off of the floor.

**Ahhh! Don't hate me! It's not what you think, I promise.**

**Can you guys guess the reason they (Brandon&Callie) decided to come back now? I gave hints but I don't know if everyone caught on…**

**Will update another chapter really soon :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Stef's P.O.V.**

As soon as Callie turned her head away from me, I snapped out of it and ran to the bathroom.

This didn't feel real.

Five years? And this is how she shows up?

She's a cop?

I don't even know if she's still in contact with my son.

I couldn't bring myself to ask.

* * *

_**Flashback** _

_A year after we adopted Jude, Lena and I were finally going to be able to adopt Callie. All of us, except for Brandon, waited at the courthouse to be called inside by the judge. _

_Just as I thought that we'd all be able to go home and legally be considered a family, Brandon showed up and ruined everything._

_I told him to stay home for this if he didn't think he could handle it, and he agreed. _

_But when he arrived and began walking over to us, I couldn't help but get a bad feeling._

"_Brandon, what are you doing here?" I asked worriedly, as I pulled him to the side so that he couldn't talk to Callie._

"_I can't let this happen, Mom," he said softly._

"_Leave now, B. Before you make this worse. This isn't up for discussion," I ordered as I glanced over at Callie, who was facing the opposite direction, completely oblivious to the fact that Brandon was here._

_He stared at me for a while and looked over my shoulder to see Callie. "I know it's not," he said as he started to walk over to her. I try to grab his arm to stop him from making a mistake, but he snatches his arm right back and keeps walking over to the girl._

_When she finally saw him, she gave him a concerned look, "Brandon, what's wrong?" she asked as she stared into his eyes for the answer._

"_I don't want you to do this, Callie. You shouldn't have to chose between us."_

_Lena stood up from her seat next to Jude. "Brandon," Lena scolded._

_He turned his attention to her, "No! I'm tired of you two trying to break us apart. It's not going to happen, okay? We're in love! And if you two can't see that, then this is never going to work," he said while gesturing to their surroundings. "How can you tell us that you love us, but try to keep us apart at the same time, when you know how we feel? What we feel for each other isn't going to go away. It's been over a year and it's only brought us closer." _

_Brandon looked away from Lena and knelt in front of Callie, "Please don't give up on us. I know that we can make this work if you fight for it too."_

_I quickly pulled Brandon off of the floor, "That's enough, Brandon. We're tired of this. We're not going to allow you to tear this family apart right now. This is supposed to be a peaceful day."_

_Brandon yanked himself away from my grasp. "For who?" Brandon asked. "For you? Because it's definitely not a peaceful day for Callie and I. In fact, it's the exact opposite."_

"_Callie wants to be a part of this family. You need to realize, that it's not about what you want."_

"_But I love him too," Callie croaked._

_I sat down in the seat next to her, "Callie, I know that this is confusing for you right now. But you two will get over it eventually, I promise. Okay?"_

_Callie shook her head with resistance. "I don't think we will though," she cried._

"_You have too," I said sternly. "It's the only way we can all be a family. I won't condone this relationship in my house."_

"_Stef, I need to talk to you," Lena interrupted._

"_It can wait, Lena," I assure her._

"_No it can't."_

_I got up and glanced at Brandon. "You have to let her go, Brandon. It's destroying everything." I said as I followed my wife._

_**End of Flashback**_

* * *

Those were the last words and the last time I'd seen my son.

And that was also the most regrettable decision I made.

I rinse my face off with water in the sink and try to catch my breath.

After everything that happened, Callie finally decided to come back… And I just left the room?

Hurting her again.

Moments later, I hear the door open and see her reflection looking at me through the mirror."

She closes the door behind her, "Look, Stef. I owe you a huge apology. Brandon and I should have never left like that, and I am truly sorry. I know that I took the most important person of your life away, and it was the most selfish decision that I've ever made. But we both hoped to come back and to try to make amends with you. But that's only if you'd let us." I watch her stand there nervously as she waits for me to respond.

"Two," I say.

"What?" she asks confusingly.

"You took away two of the most important people of my life," I finish.

TBC…

**And btw, Callie IS pregnant. That's why they came back. Most of you guessed right though :P **


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so I got a review by a guest telling me that since Callie is pregnant, she can't work as a police officer. I googled it and found out some interesting information for you guys (if you care). According to a very recent article in the Police Chief Magazine written by Karen J. Kruger, "**The federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) requires that employers treat "women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions" the same in employment "as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work." The PDA was designed to "guarantee women the basic right to participate fully and equally in the workforce, without denying them the fundamental right to full participation in family life. Many progressive law enforcement agencies provide for adequate maternity leave, light duty assignments, maternity uniforms and body armor… Law enforcement officers may be required to confront dangerous situations that demand strenuous physical exertion. They must wear, carry, and use specialized equipment. They must be able to quickly get out of vehicles and perform rescue operations. In nearly every case, a pregnant woman will have difficulty performing these tasks late in a pregnancy, but until that time, "an employee must be permitted to work at all times during pregnancy when she is able to perform her job." **A law enforcement agency may not remove a pregnant officer from her assignment, or compel her to assume a light duty assignment, unless she cannot perform the essential functions of a police officer.****It is unlawful for an employer to take "anticipatory" action against a pregnant employee, or to make general assumptions about the impact that a pregnancy might have on a woman's ability to do her job.** **Employers may not change a pregnant employee's assignment against her will based on stereotypes about what types of work pregnant women should do, concerns about public perceptions of pregnant officers, or notions of fetal protection.****A pregnant employee should not be forced into a light duty assignment as long as she is physically able to perform her regular assignment.** Likewise, she should not be permitted to elect a light duty assignment before it is medically necessary…"

**If you guys would like more information on this, I can send you the link or you can just Google the article yourself. I just had to address it, and I learned a lot too, so thanks for questioning me.**

* * *

**Callie's P.O.V.**

I walk into the bathroom and see Stef rinsing her face off with water. I missed her so much and I fought every bone in my body and every thought in my head to refrain from running up to her and hugging her.

Mainly out of fear of her shutting me off, like she had just done a few minutes ago.

_I have to be strong about this. _

_I have come too far to back down now._

She glances up at the mirror and stares at me as if she'd seen a ghost.

_Just say it Callie_, I think to myself. "Look, Stef. I owe you a huge apology. Brandon and I should have never left like that, and I am truly sorry. I know that I took the most important person of your life away, and it was the most selfish decision that I've ever made. But we both hoped to come back and to try to make amends with you. But that's only if you'd let us."

She slowly turns around to face me and I can see the tears welling up in her eyes, which just makes me feel even worse for making her cry. I didn't want to upset her any more than I already had.

"Two," she says.

"What?" I ask in a barely audible voice, wondering if she actually heard me.

Stef wipes away a tear that had fallen onto her cheek, "You took away two of the most important people of my life."

* * *

I gulp loudly at her response, silently wondering how she felt about it now. "Stef, I…" I couldn't find the right words to respond. My emotions were getting the best of me with every second that I spent staring at her face, so I glanced down at the floor instead. "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't want to leave you guys. Neither of us did. We just…" I pause as I try to search my thoughts.

_I practiced this._

_I memorized exactly what I was supposed to say, but nothing was going as planned._

_She wasn't supposed to run from me._

_I wasn't supposed to cry. _

_And more importantly, she wasn't supposed to say those words._

By the time I glance back up, I see her coming towards me and feel her tight embrace, "I know, Baby. I know. You have nothing to be sorry for… I should have accepted the way you and Brandon felt about each other. I shouldn't have pushed you two away like that. I'm the one who should be sorry. Not you." She held onto my head as if I'd try to leave again if I didn't believe her. I lift my arms and hug her back, letting her know that I had no intention of leaving her.

"No, Stef. I should've tried harder to be the person all of you wanted me to be," I cried onto her shoulder.

But Stef lets go of the embrace, cups my face with her palms, and looks into my eyes, "No, Callie. Don't say that. Don't you ever say that, okay? You shouldn't have to change who you are or how you feel about anyone."

I shake my head and just let even more tears run down my face, "But I left you. And I left Jude. And—"

Stef holds my face still and wipes the tears that fell onto my cheek with her thumbs, "And are you and Brandon still together?" she asks sternly.

I nod my head, which causes her to smile, "…And do you regret the past 5 years you spent together?"

"No," I answer softly and truthfully. "I don't regret a second that I spent with him."

"Then, don't regret leaving, yes?" She tilts her head to the side as she looks at me and I nod. "…I would've done the same thing for Lena."

I finally breathe and try to stop crying until she decides to pull me into another embrace.

After a long while she finally speaks. "A cop? Really?" she asks sarcastically.

I have to laugh at her reaction, "Not happy?"

She pulls me away, "That you took after your mother? Noooo…Why wouldn't I be happy about that?" She chuckles and kisses my forehead, removing a few hair strands out of my face. "...But Mama on the other hand, is going to be so pissed."

I laugh at the thought of telling her, "She can't get as mad as Brandon was when I first told him I was entering the academy." I smiled as I recounted the scene in my head.

"I bet," she laughs. "That sounds like my son. He took after Mama in a lot of things,"  
she shakes her head at the thought. "…How is Brandon? When will I get to see him?" she asks eagerly.

"Soon," I assure her. "He's doing a little surprising of his own as we speak."

Stef wraps her arm around to mine as we leave the bathroom, "Oh, no. Should we be worried?"

"I hope not…partner," I say, knowing that it'd get a strange reaction out of her.

"Partner?" she smiles as we walk over to the coffee machine. "That sounds so weird. Doesn't it?"

I nod as she grabs the coffee pot and a couple of mugs, "Do you think we can manage to not spill the coffee all over the floor this time?"

"We can try."

**TBC…**


	5. Chapter 5

**To Mackenzie:**_ Please make an account. I would love to be able to answer all of your questions, but don't want to ruin it for everyone else who might want to be surprised. Hope you understand :)_

* * *

**Lena's P.O.V.**

Just as I thought I could finally get a break and go out to lunch, I hear my office phone ring.

I was grabbing my jacket and was literally about to head out the door.

_Why did it have to ring?_

_Don't answer it! Don't answer it! _I told myself but something in my gut told me to at least glance at the caller ID. Reluctantly, I let out a deep breath and walked back over to my desk.

I immediately pick up the receiver and hold it to my ear when I see the name, "Hello, Mrs. Glaser. Is everything alright?" I ask worriedly.

"Lena. I'm so glad you picked up. We're having a little bit of a problem here with Gavin…"

"What kind of a problem? Is he alright?" My nerves were getting even worse.

"No, no, nothing like that. He's fine."

"But…"

"He bit one of the other students today."

"He what?" I screech. _I cannot believe this is happening right now._ "Are you sure it was him? What did he say about it?"

"Yes, we're positive it was him. And he said that he only did it because she took all of the red crayons. And well, I'm calling you because he's demanding to go home now."

I place my hand on my forehead, close my eyes, and let out a breath of frustration, "Can I talk to him please?"

"Yes one moment…"

"Hi," the small voice says.

I try to remain calm, "Gavin, what is going on?"

"I wanna go hhome Mommy," his voice sounds so sad as if he had been crying and my heart goes out to my son. I hate hearing that voice and knowing that I can't be by his side this very moment. But I can't leave work in the middle of the day, every time he asked me to do so.

I fight back my emotions, "You can't come home, Sweetie. You have to stay in school. We talked about this, remember?"

"But I donwanna be here no more," I hear him gasping for breaths as he sobbed into the phone.

"Baby, I'm sorry but I can't come get you right now. You're only there for a little bit longer and I'll pick you up as soon as I get out."

"But I, I hate it h-here. Julie t-took all da crayons n Miz Glazer scream at-at me."

"Did you bite Julie?" I ask sternly. Gavin stays silent, as if I wouldn't know he was still holding the phone to his ear by his small breaths. "Gavin, I know you're still on the phone. Did you bite Julie?"

"No?" he says in a barely audible voice.

"Remember what I said about lying to me Gavin?"

"Dat I not supposeto do it."

"Yes," I remind him. "Did you bite Julie?"

"Yes, but—"

"No, buts Gavin. You have to apologize to Julie."

"But—"

"Gavin," my voice became louder.

"But Jul—"

"No."

"Julie take all of dem fur herzelf. You tell me I suppose to share but Julie don share wit me."

"That doesn't mean you have to bite her, Sweetie."

"I hhate her!" the little boy yells into the phone.

I have to fight back a laugh and was grateful, that I was only on the phone with my son. Because he would've seen the smile on my face and not learned his lesson. "Honey, you don't hate her. You have to apologize to her, because boys don't bite girls."

"I culd only bite boys?"

"No, you can't bite anyone."

"Not even wen dey took all da crayons?"

"Exactly."

"But why?"

"Because it's not a nice thing to do. People don't go around biting people when they get mad. That's not how we solve our problems."

"Okay, Mommy. I won bit her no more. Don fo-forget me wen you got out of work, okay?"

"I won't forget if you promise not to bite anyone or give Mrs. Glaser a hard time okay?"

"Okay," he says depressingly.

"And say sorry to Mrs. Glaser too."

"I didn't bit her," he answers matter-of-factly.

"I know that sweetie. But you gave her a hard time."

"Zorry Miz Glazer… My mommy toll me to tell you dat," he says softly and it's obvious that he doesn't mean it.

I shake my head at my son's honesty. I did tell him not to lie. "All right, I love you Gavin."

"I luv you too mommy," he finished.

Just as I was about to hang up the phone, I receive another phone call. But this time it was my secretary. I have no choice but to answer it, being that I have to walk passed her on my way outside.

I sigh as I pick up the receiver again, "Yes Monica?"

"Lena, I have someone here wanting to see you. Should I send him in?"

"I'm about to go out to lunch. Is it important?"

"Yes, he says it's urgent."

I bite my lip, "Fine, send him in." I say as I quickly hang up the phone. _This better be quick_, I think to myself.

TBC...

**Sorry for the forever-ever update. I tried to update yesterday but this site was giving me some issues. **


	6. Chapter 6

**First off, Happy Easter Everyone! Hope you all had a good one :)**

* * *

**Brandon's P.O.V.**

I'm standing in the secretary's office, waiting for her "okay" to enter Mama's office. I can't help but feel incredibly nervous about this, but Callie and I agreed that it was time.

Well… to be honest, she thought it was time and told me I didn't really have a choice in the matter. But we're married and she made it very clear that she wanted to do this.

But what she didn't realize was, that I was definitely going to receive more hell from this than she was.

_I was the one who couldn't leave well enough alone. _

_I was the one who pushed Callie away from the entire family._

_I was the one who showed up that day, just as she was about to get adopted, and ruined that for them._

My mom's words echoed in my ears for years: _"You have to let her go, Brandon. It's destroying everything."_

_What if she still felt the same way?_

_Would that mean Mama did too?_

I have a bad feeling that both of my mothers wouldn't ever forgive me for taking Callie and leaving the way we did. More importantly, I was afraid of their reactions. I was afraid that they'd glance the other way, or Lena would kick me out of her office the moment I opened the door.

_But I had to do this for Callie, _

_And for our unborn-child._

They might not want anything to do with us, but they should at least know that we were having a baby.

This baby shouldn't have to suffer, not knowing their grandmothers because of our mistakes.

_That was the most important part in all of this._

I knock on Lena's office door lightly and hear her voice, "Come in."

When I open the door, her face goes from a smile to a completely flat expression. Her mouth opens slightly and her eyes open wide at the sight of me. I'm not exactly sure whether the shock is a good thing or a bad one, so I figure I should talk first. "Hey Mom," I say as I close the door behind me.

"Oh my God, Brandon!" she screeches as she stands up and runs over to hug me, almost knocking me over in the process. "Thank God you're okay!" she says as she grabs my chin in her hand and examines my face, "I am so mad at you!" she says and then pulls me in for another hug.

I have to laugh at her reaction. It was between excitement, shock, and anger all at once. "I know. You have every right to be. I screwed up big time."

She pushes me away from her embrace and I can see her eyes welling up with emotion, "You're okay. That's all that matters now…Where's Callie?" she smiles as she wipes away her tears before they escape her eyes.

I give her a quizzical look, wondering exactly how she knew that Callie and I were still together. "Huh?"

"What? You didn't think that I'd believe you both ran away together and spent five years away from your family, if you just broke up. Did you?" she asked accusingly but playfully. "How is she?"

I smile as I remember how much more understanding Mama was as compared to Mom. "She's okay. We're great actually. She went to go see Mom at the station."

"The station?"

"Yeah…I think that's some news, that she'd better tell you."

Mama raises her eyebrows with concern.

I laugh at the worried look on her face, "She didn't get arrested again or anything like that, if that's what you're thinking."

"Well, that's good to hear," she says, finally taking a breath. She glances down at my hand and lifts it to see my wedding ring better, "And you two are married? When did that happen?"

"Almost three years ago," I smile.

"Wow! That was really soon. Your mom and I were together for ten years before we finally tied the knot, and you two did it in what? Two? Oh, speaking of your mom, she is going to be so excited to see you!"

They were both interrupted by a knock on the door, "Who is it?" Lena asks.

"It's me," a voice I didn't recognize says.

Lena smiles and looks back at me. "Come in, Sweetie."

The door opens and none other than Jude walks in.

**TBC…**

**Next chapter: How will Jude react about the news? Better or worse than the moms?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Jude's P.O.V.**

I run over to Mom's office door and knock on it. I hope that she didn't go out to lunch already. But with my luck, she probably already has.

"Who is it?" she asks.

_Thank God she's still here_, I thought. "It's me."

"Come on in, Sweetie," I hear her respond. _Phew… she's alone._

The moment I open the door, I wish I hadn't. "What are you doing here?" I yell.

"Jude," Mom scolds, but I ignore her.

"Why did you come back?" I ask as I walk in and slam the door shut behind me.

Brandon looks ashamed and he should be. "Look Jude, I know you are mad at me and you have every right to be."

"Damn straight!"

"Jude, that's enough! Now, say you're sorry."

I just glare at him and I fight every bone in my body not to punch him in the face. "He's lucky he's still standing!"

"Jude!" She looks at me and then at Brandon, "Brandon, he doesn't mean that."

"Yes, I do!"

Brandon takes a step toward me, "Jude, I know that what I did was unforgiveable—"

"Then why'd you come back!" I snap.

"Because Callie and I thought it was time to stop running. And we missed you guys."

"Callie doesn't miss me! If she actually cared about me, she would have never left!"

"She does miss you, Jude. She didn't want to leave you, but we thought it was the only way."

"It's all your fault she left! If it weren't for you, Callie would still be part of this family! But you took her from me! And I want nothing to do with either of you!" I say as I open the door, walk out, and slam it back shut.

I hear my mom call after me, but I make sure not to turn back around. I know that nothing good would come of it.

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_I knocked on Callie's door lightly, hoping that Mariana wasn't in her room getting ready too._

"_Come in," Callie said._

_I slowly opened the door and saw Callie in aqua blue dress. "You look very pretty," I told her._

_She turned around, "And you look very handsome... Hey Jude, can you help me with this bracelet? I've been trying to put in on for almost ten minutes."_

"_Sure," I said as I walked over to her and put the bracelet on her. "Are you excited about today?"_

"_More like nervous," she answered honestly. "But excited too."_

_I laughed, "We're finally going to be a family."_

"_We already are, Jude," she said as she spiked up my hair._

"_You know what I mean. Legally. They can't send you back now," I joked._

"_Oh, thanks!" she laughed. "…Jude?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Can you promise me something?"_

"_What?" I asked worriedly. _

"_You know that I love you. And that no matter what happens today, that won't ever change."_

"_Callie, what are you talking about? You're finally getting adopted today! Why are you so worried?"_

_She gave me a nervous smile, "I don't know, Jude. I just…well, with everything that's been going on since we got here. With having your dad sign the adoption papers, to finding out that he wasn't even my biological father—"_

"_And then when your biological father refused to sign the papers," I finished for her._

"_Exactly... I just don't want to believe it, until its actually final. So, just promise me that nothing is going to change, no matter what happens today. And promise me that you won't cry if it doesn't work out again," she said as she put her hand on my cheek._

"_Callie, it's going to work out this time," I assured her._

"_Jude, just promise okay?"_

"_Okay, I promise," I said and she kissed my forehead and hugged me._

_**End of Flashback**_

* * *

I immediately run out of the office and begin to walk home. There was no way in hell that I was staying there.

With him.

I don't care if moms ground me until the end of time. I refuse to have to look at his face.

I know that I broke my sister's promise, but I also know that she lied to me too. She promised that she would keep loving me.

That nothing would ever change.

The past five years proved to me that she never meant anything she said that day.

TBC..

**Of course, Jude was going to react differently than the moms. I can't have everybody be all hunky-dory. Somebody had to get pissed :P **

**Next chapter: I'll go back to where I left off with Stef and Callie.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Callie's P.O.V.**

I grabbed the coffee that Stef handed me, not wanting to give the news away just yet. Brandon and I promised that we would do that together, with the whole family there. I sipped it slowly, hoping that she wouldn't notice that I was barely drinking out of my mug.

I notice her trying to hide a laugh as she grabbed her car keys from her desk.

"What's so funny?" I ask her.

"Nothing. I just can't believe that someone, in his or her right mind, would hand you a gun," she laughs out loud this time.

"I can say the same thing about you," I tease.

"Oh please, Rookie, step aside," she says as she pushes me out of the way gently and fills her travel mug with more coffee.

"You're seriously going to call me a Rookie?"

"I seriously am. There's no leeway here, my friend," she smiles.

"Why thank you," I tell her as I take the snatch the keys from her, as she takes a sip of her coffee. "Then I guess, I'm driving."

"That's not what I meant," she argues and starts to follow me out the door. "If you drive anything like you did when I first started teaching you, I refuse to be in the car!"

I open the car door and get in, "I promise I don't," I tell her. She gets in the vehicle and puts her seat belt on. I start to reverse backward. "I drive faster," I smile and speed up, knowing that it'd make her nervous.

"Oh God, Callie. You've come back to kill me," she says as she holds onto the assist-handle with one hand, trying hard not to look at the road.

"Relax, Mom. I was only joking," I say as I ease off the gas.

_Oh crap! Did I just call Stef mom? It sounded like I said it, but I didn't mean too if I did. _I drive slowly as I contemplate whether to apologize or take it back.

Brandon and I have always referred to them as our "Moms" at home.

_But calling one of them that, the moment that I get back sounds awful to me. _

_But calling her that and making her feel uncomfortable is just as bad._

I don't even bother to glance in her direction after what I said. "So, I take it you'll want to stop by the school first?" I say, keeping my eyes on the road.

"Why? Is that where Brandon is? Do not tell me that he's a vice principal too?" she eyes me carefully.

"Oh God no! It's worse," I say.

"What?" she says worriedly.

"I can't say it," I say in a depressing voice and hold my hands up to my face in an effort to hide my pretend shame. I fake cry, "I promised to never say it out loud."

"What?" Stef asks anxiously.

"He's a...a…a student."

"Very funny, Cal."

I laugh and look at her, "I scared you for a second. Didn't I?"

"Not at all," she answers as she looks out the window to avoid my gaze with slight embarrassment written all over hers.

"One more semester and your son is a graduate from the Manhattan School of Music. Then, he will be transferring to Julliard in the spring to get his masters."

"Music? You got him interested in music again?" she asks with surprise evident in her voice.

"Not exactly. He was never uninterested. I guess when we left; he found a new reason to keep playing. He missed you guys so much that he started putting his feelings into his songs. He plays much better now. I can't wait for you to hear him."

Stef stays silent and I could tell that I made her cry, "I'm sorry, Stef. I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean that leaving you inspired him to play or anything, I just meant—"

"No, I know what you meant, Callie. It's fine."

We sat in silence for a long while until I finally had the courage to speak up again, "How's everybody? And Jude?"

"Everyone's fine. Jude is just fine," she smiles at me. He's a senior now and going off to college soon himself, hopefully."

"What do you mean hopefully?" I ask nervously.

"Well, last time we checked he said he wasn't going but—"

"What do you mean he said he wasn't going? He has to go! Did you tell him that he has to go?" I raise my voice and realize who I am speaking to, "…Sorry."

"No, I completely agree with you. We've had a talk with him, and he said that he'd think about it. But we all know, that he's going whether he likes it or not. I mean, if anyone can get someone to do what they want, it's me," she says and then pauses. "…Well, most of the time anyway," she smiles at me and I know that she's referring to Brandon and I.

I move my gaze from the road, "I'm s—"

"I told you to stop apologizing, Callie." She points in the direction in front of us, "Eyes on the road. I see that your driving skills haven't improved a bit," she teases.

I glance back at the street. "What about Mam— Lena," I correct myself.

"If she's seen Brandon already, I bet she's pretty fine now. Mariana and Jesus are, well…they're still Mariana and Jesus. Not much has changed there. And Gavin is 5 now, and well is an angel with Mama, but behaves completely different with me."

"Uh-oh," I joke. "And how is that working out?"

"Well, I'm the 'mean mommy.' His words, not mine."

"Awww. I'm sorry, Stef," I smile and try to imagine him calling her that in my head. She notices me laughing and smiling.

"Oh, just you wait until you have kids. You won't be smiling then," she points at me accusingly but I know that she's joking.

I stay silent.

"…Wait, do you and Brandon have kids?" she asks worriedly.

"No… We don't have kids."

_It's the truth. She didn't ask if I was pregnant._

"That's a relief," she let out a deep breath. "It would be hard for you to keep your mind focused at work, thinking about having a baby at home and all. Plus, you become a nervous wreck when you're working because you're afraid that if something happens to you, what will happen with the baby. It's good that we don't have to worry about any of that stuff either, right?" she laughs and I give her a forced-smile as we pull up in front of the school.

_If she feels this way about the thought of me already having a kid, I don't even want to know how she'll feel about me being pregnant. _

_I didn't want her to hover over me or to think that I couldn't handle my new job the moment I came back._

_I realize that telling her too soon could affect how she views me completely._

_As her partner._

_And as her daughter. _

**That's so like Stef, always putting her foot in her mouth. Constantly saying things accidentally, without realizing that she's hurting the other person. She's done this a lot with Lena in season 1b, and it made me laugh a lot. Even though it's obviously not nice. But she's human.**

**Anyways, how'd you like/dislike the chapter? **


	9. Chapter 9

_**Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. I've been suffering from a little bit of writer's block and got completely sucked into my other fic, Someone Else. So sucked in, that I had to finish it immediately. So I do apologize for that.**_

_**I will be updating my other Foster's fics (The Aftermath & It Takes Two) soon (Probably tomorrow), so just a heads up. I won't forget about any of them.**_

* * *

**Brandon's P.O.V.**

After Jude stormed out of mom's office, I contemplated on going after him. The moment I reached for the doorknob, mom stopped me.

"Brandon, I don't think that's a good idea. He just needs some time to adjust to all of this."

"Is that what you all think?" I asked with the sudden realization coming over me.

"What?"

"That I took her from you?"

"Brandon…that was a long time ago—"

I interrupted her, "That's not what I asked. Is everyone still mad at me?"

"No, Brandon."

"What about mom? Does she still hate me? I know she did."

"Your mom and I could never hate you. Either of you. To be honest, we were confused at first. And angry. But so much time has passed since then, and we understand now why you did it. Mariana and Jesus were outraged with the both of you, but they've moved passed those feelings by now. Jude will come around. It'll just take some more time."

"What if he doesn't? Callie won't be able to take it, if he treats her anything like he just treated me. How could he say that she didn't miss him? She dreaded the thought of leaving Jude, and now she has to dread the thought of coming back to him." I shake my head with annoyance, "I told her that coming back was a bad idea. I won't have her see him like this. Especially not now."

"What do you mean?" Lena asked in confusion.

My cell-phone's text-tone went off, distracting me from the conversation. It was Callie's tone, "Hold on one second, mom."

I glance at the screen and read it:

**Change of plans. We can't tell them about the baby yet. Long story. Fill you in later. Btw, we're walking inside the school.**

I put my phone back in my pocket.

"Brandon?" Lena tried to get my attention focused on her again.

"Huh?"

"You just said that you wouldn't allow her to see Jude like this now. Why?"

"Because …he hates us, and I don't want him to hurt her. She's already been through so much hurt and I won't allow him to yell at my wife."

Lena nodded her head, surprised by Brandon's defensiveness toward Callie. But something told her that wasn't all that was going on here. She decided not to pressure him into telling her now. "That's completely understandable, but don't you think that it should be her decision to make? You're not going to tell her to just leave after you just got here, because you're afraid that she'd get hurt…And besides, who knows best how to calm Jude down, than Callie?" she smiled and put her hand on my shoulder.

Just then we heard a knock on the door.

Lena sighed, "Who is it?"

"It's me," Mom answered causing my nerves to rise from a 3 to a 10 in a millisecond.

Lena must've noticed because she looked at me and whispered the word, "Relax."

She smiled and glanced back at the door and back at me, "Come in, babe."

Mom opened the door and stood at the doorway staring me with gleaming eyes. I was glad that she actually seemed happy to see me, since I thought she would be the most anger-filled one of them all. Tears filled her eyes, which upset me. "Mom, please don't cry," I beg but she just leaps into my arms.

"Don't you dare tell me not to cry, after finally seeing my son for the first time in years," she answered as she held onto me tightly. I hugged her back and couldn't help but tear up too at the wetness of her hair against my face. I didn't realize how badly I missed her until she was standing right in front of me and wrapped in my arms.

"Promise me something?" I heard her ask with a cracking-voice.

"Anything," I laughed afraid of what she was going to make me promise, but fully willing to do it.

I would do anything for her at this moment.

She loosened her grip on me and looked into my eyes, "Promise me not to ever do something so incredibly STUPID again?"

I glanced over her shoulder at Lena, and saw that she too was waiting for my reply. I turned my gaze to Callie who just walked through the doorway and saw her smiling and her eyes glistening at the sight of my mother and I.

"I promise," I answered.


	10. Chapter 10

_Okay, sorry I haven't updated in a few days. I started three new fics and I'm working on another one that hasn't yet been posted. Plus, school and life have gotten in the way too. This fic was just supposed to be something that I could easily update when I got bored of writing my other fics, but the problem is: I haven't gotten bored recently._

* * *

**Callie's P.O.V.**

As soon as Stef and I reach the school parking lot, I freeze.

_**Flashback- Morning of Adoption**_

_I was awoken by the faint smell of coffee nearby. The moment I opened my eyes, I could see Lena smiling at me as she held the mug in front of my face, "Hey slug-a-bug. I thought that might get your attention."_

_I laughed. "It did, thanks," I said as I sat up and reached for the mug. "What time is it?"_

"_10:30. I know we don't have to be at the court until 1, but thought we could talk first."_

_I took my lips off of the mug. "Why? What happened? Is something wrong?" I asked nervously._

"_No, nothing like that. I just wanted to make sure, that this is what you really want. After what happened last night with Brandon, I just—"_

"_I'm sorry about that," I tried to tell her. I felt horrible after she had to witness the unexpected kiss in the music room after school. If I knew that it was going to happen, I wouldn't have gone to meet him there._

"_No, I know that wasn't your fault. And your mom and I had a talk with him, so he knows that the kiss was unacceptable. And he agreed that he shouldn't come to the court with us today. I just want to make sure that you're sure about all of this before—"_

"_I am," I interrupted her. "I want you guys to be my family. All of you. And if that means that Brandon and I can't be together, then…that's what's going to have to happen." _

_I heard the words come out of my own mouth, so I knew that I had said them. Doesn't that mean that I had to believe them too?_

"_It's just…How do I put this?...I want to know if you're going to be prepared if he doesn't agree to accept you as a sister. At least not yet anyway. I'm sure, that with time, he'll get used to the idea. But he doesn't seem as on-board with this adoption as we all want him to be. He will accept it though; so don't worry about any of that. We just want to know that you're prepared to become a part of this family?"_

_I smiled and nodded my head yes, even though it hurt me to lie to her. If she thinks that Brandon will get over it, then I will too, right?_

_**Flashback Ended.**_

* * *

I stand in the doorway, and I can't help but feel relieved when Stef runs up to hug Brandon.

Every fear he felt, every thought he dreaded, every scenario he played out in his mind, had suddenly dissipated in a matter of seconds, when his mother wrapped his arms around him again.

"Callie?" I hear Lena's shocked voice and I turn around to see her eyeing my face and then my uniform. "Please tell me that's a Halloween costume," she says as she walks over towards me.

I laugh, "In the middle of May?"

"You've come back, just to give me a heart attack," she says as she wraps her arms around me and gives me a tight hug, which startles me. I had never expected her to have so much strength.

"That's exactly why I came back," I answer. She loosens the hug and looks at me again. "What?" I ask.

"I just can't believe you came back a cop," she says as she turns to Stef and points at her accusingly, "Now, you'll get to see first hand what I have to put up with, when you're at work."

Stef smirks, "Oh, please, Lena. You think I'd let anything happen to my partner, let alone my own daughter?" she asks as she turns to look at me.

"Oh, your partner?" Lena asks surprisingly as she wrinkles her forehead.

I shake my head, "No, Stef. At work, I'm just your partner. I already talked with the captain. And she agreed to this, only if it wouldn't interfere with either of our performances. So, no crowding me at work."

Lena lifts her eyebrows and looks at Stef.

Stef fake-laughs. "Righhhttt…" she says sarcastically.

"I mean it," I tell her.

"That's what's so funny," Stef laughs again. Lena tries her best to hide the smile that wants to form on her face so badly.

I keep my face straight.

_I need Stef to take me seriously, especially since she doesn't think I can handle the job and having a kid. I had to prove her wrong somehow. _

"Alright Tiger, take it easy," she says as she walks over and places and her arm around me.

I glance at my watch, "It's 8:30. Our workday has officially started, and that's Officer JacobFoster to you," I tell her as I remove her arm from around mines and place it back to her side.

I could feel her giving me a stunned expression. But I don't dare look at her, because I know I'd just burst out laughing.

Instead I walk over to Brandon and give him a quick kiss, "Bye baby. See you at home." He covers up his mouth so that Stef couldn't see the smile that crept along his face.

I walk over to Lena and give her a quick hug, "I guess, I'll see you later?"

"Absolutely," she says as she hugs me back and looks at Stef.

As soon as we let go, I turn to Stef, who's just standing there with the same surprised expression.

"Are we going to get to work? Or has the job already warn you out?" I joke, knowing that my comment would strike a nerve. I walk quickly out of Lena's office.

"Oh, it's on," I hear her answer.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

_**I know, I know. Not a lot of Braille yet, besides the flashbacks and what not. But let's keep in mind that all of this has happened in about two hours. **_

_**Next chapter: Callie and Stef's first day on the job. **_

_**How will it go? Will they clash already? Predictions, thoughts, comments, suggestions…**_

_**Nothing is planned as of yet, so ideas are always welcome :D**_

_**Ty for reading**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Rated M (maybe) for language. If that doesn't bother you, you're good :)**

* * *

**Callie's P.O.V.**

For hours Stef and I just drove around the town, giving people parking tickets and questioning the random, uninteresting behavior of a few individuals. But to be honest, I was getting rather bored, and I felt that she was taking it easy on me on purpose.

Every time we pulled someone over, I stayed in the car and ran license plate numbers into the system, while she approached the vehicles.

_This can't be what she did with all of her other partners._

I watched her get back in the car after writing the tenth ticket today. As soon as she turned to face me, I gave her my most bored look.

"What's wrong?" she grinned as she put her seatbelt on and put the car in drive.

"You're joking, right?" I asked her as I crossed my arms and then quickly uncrossed them, when I realized how childish I must've looked.

"What do you mean?" Stef asked, but the radio interrupted before I got to respond.

"Code purple. We've got a possible assault with a deadly weapon by three white males at the corner of state and 3rd. Requesting backup."

My eyes lit up, but Stef grabbed the receiver and placed it near her mouth, "10-10."

"What does that mean? We're going right?" I asked.

"10-10 means that we're off duty."

"But we're not," I reminded her.

"I need a coffee break. There's a coffee spot right around the corner from here," she answered without responding to me.

_Is she really doing this?_ I wondered.

"How long are you going to keep this up?"

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"You're crowding me because you don't think I can handle the job?"

"That's not true."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

"I know you can handle the job, Callie. I'm just taking it easy on you on your first day. That's all."

"By what? Leaving me sitting in the car the entire time? How am I supposed to learn anything, if I'm just typing numbers into the system? Did you do this with all of your other partners?"

Stef was taken aback by the fact I was questioning her training technique, "…On their first day? Absolutely, I did."

"Yeah right," I fake-laughed.

Stef let out a long frustrated breath and kept her eyes on the road as she drove without another word.

As soon as she pulled in front of the place, I got out of the car before she could fully put it in park.

"Callie?" I heard her say.

"What? Don't think I can handle grabbing two cups of coffee on my own? How will I ever make it to the coffee machine and back without getting hurt?" I ask with an exaggerated and helpless voice. I wanted her to realize how irrational she was being.

She sighed and attempted to reach into her pocket, "Let me give you some money befo—"

"I got it," I stop her and close the car door forcefully.

I walked into the little bodega and made my way over to the coffee machine.

_It's quiet in here_, I thought as I grabbed two medium sized cups. I poured decaf in one and caffeinated in the other, making sure to put a straw in mines, so that I'd no the difference. The moment I put the lids on the both of them, I paused at a loud man's voice coming from the front of the store, "OPEN THE FUCKING REGISTER BEFORE I BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"

_Shit! Shit! Shit! _

I instantly turned around and realized that I couldn't see anything where the voice came from. I slowly withdrew my gun from my belt and quietly began to walk toward the front of the store. Then I heard another man's voice, "I don't know bruh. I think he's going too slow for us."

* * *

**Stef's P.O.V.**

The moment Callie slammed the car door shut, I knew that she was pissed at me.

_This is her first day_, I try to reason.

_I should be going easy on her._

_Let her get a feel for the job before she really has to do something even remotely dangerous._

But then, I realized how we normally treat all the other rookies. We purposely start them off in the most dangerous situations, just to see if they can hack it, as a joke. Most of them can't on their first day, and I was saving Callie the misery of that.

I let out a loud sigh. "Maybe I'll let her write out the next ticket," I mumble to myself.

My walkie-talkie turned on, and I heard a grown man's voice, "MOVE IT, BEFORE I SHOOT YOUR SON RIGHT IN BETWEEN HIS EYES!"

"I WANT ALL OF THE MONEY THAT'S UNDER THE REGISTER TOO!" another voice shouted. And within seconds I got out of the car and drew out my gun.

Adrenaline rushed through my body, and I considered quickly running inside of the store that my daughter was in. She placed her walkie on speaker, so that could mean a bunch of things. They could even have her face down on the ground when they realized that there was a cop in there with them. They already had one gun that I'm sure of, and there are at least two men in there.

I quickly made my way over to the front of the store and hid my body behind a poster, sticking my head out a little, so that I could see what was going on. I saw one white male pointing his gun toward someone who I had no direct vision of, and I saw Callie with her gun drawn out and walking slowly over toward the front.

_No, Callie! What are you doing!_

* * *

I didn't have time to call for any backup, because I was afraid that Callie would try to take them on by herself. So I immediately ran toward the front door and opened it slowly, trying hard not to push it all the way open so that the bell didn't ring.

I saw the backs of both of the armed men, as they had their guns drawn on the two guys at the register, one black and one white. The cashier stupidly looked in my direction and I knew that I had no other choice but to announce myself, "POLICE! FREEZE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"

Both men turned toward my direction with their guns now pointed at me.

"POLICE! DROP THEM NOW!" Callie yelled from behind them, as she eyed the two of them carefully making sure not to lose eye contact.

"CALLIE, GO OUTSIDE AND CALL FOR BACKUP!" I yelled at her.

She didn't budge, and I shot her the angriest glare that I could, so that she would listen to me. But she turned her face back toward the men, "I'm not going to do that, Stef."

The white male turned around and pointed his gun at her. "No, Stef. She's not going to do that," he said as he started moving closer toward her. "DROP THE GUN BITCH!"

I felt my body trembling, but I wasn't sure if it was fear for my daughter's life, adrenaline, or both. Callie hesitantly dropped her gun and raised her hands up in the air. Part of me wanted to shoot a clean whole through his back, but I could still feel the other guy's gun pointed to my head.

"NOW GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR! BOTH OF YOU!" the white male said.

"You sure you want me to do that?" Callie asked him.

_What are you doing Cal?_ I wanted to shout at her. The last thing that she should do would be to tease him.

"DID I STUTTER?" he yelled at her as he stepped closer.

I spoke up, "No, you didn't stutter. We got it." I dropped my gun too, and watched as Callie leaned down onto the ground. "You too bitch!" he says as he turns around and pointed the gun at me, but before I knew it, I could see Callie reaching for her ankle gun.

I wanted to shake my head at her, but that would only give her away and get us both killed.

_Damn it, Callie!_

I glanced at my gun and considered reaching for it again, but both men had their eyes fixed on me. Before I knew it, Callie grabbed the man's legs and trips him.

The black guy who had his gun pointed at me, turned his gun towards Callie, and I immediately reached for my weapon and tackled him onto the ground. I placed my gun in his face, and he immediately dropped his onto the ground. I pushed it away with my hand and looked up, to see Callie struggling with the other man, but she was on top of him trying to push his gun away.

"DROP IT OR I WILL SHOOT!" I yelled. He turned his face toward me and saw his partner lying on the ground and my gun pointed on his face.

"OH, MAN!" he grunted as he stopped fighting and let go of the gun. Callie grabbed it and placed it behind her back. She slowly moved off of him and forcefully turned his body around and took out her cuffs.

I cuffed the other man, with my eyes on the other two the entire time, just incase she lost control of him, "You're both under arrest for robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and assaulting a police officer," I tell them.

* * *

**Callie's P.O.V. **

After we both brought the men into the car, I had hoped that Stef had finally started to take me seriously.

The second she closes the car door, she turns around to face me, "What the hell were you thinking?" she asks angrily.

"What?" I ask in complete surprise.

"What in the world led you to believe that you could take on two grown men?"

I stare at her for a long time without responding, "I'm pretty sure I just saved your ass in there."

"You almost got us both killed! You should have called for backup!"

"I should have called for backup? I turned my walkie on so that you could call for backup!"

"I was afraid of what you would do!" she argues.

"I was going to wait for backup!"

"I saw you through the window! You had your gun drawn and were walking toward them!"

"So that I could get a better look, and I wouldn't be unarmed if they saw me!"

"You shouldn't have done that!"

"Are you mad that I did that, or are you mad because you didn't call for backup! You almost got us killed in there, running in like a crazy person, announcing yourself to two men with guns!"

"I was trying to protect you from them!"

"I didn't need protection! I was doing fine! I needed you to call for backup, before you just decided to run in without thinking twice about it!"

"I don't think I did anything wrong," she says sternly.

That's when I knew that this was a big mistake.

"That's the problem!" I take a deep breath, knowing that we aren't getting anywhere. "…You know what? Just forget it. It doesn't even matter," I say as I start to open the passenger car door.

She quickly closes it back, "What does that mean?"

"You're never going to take me seriously as a cop, so I don't even know why I even tried."

"That's not true. I do take you seriously," she says as she tilts her head to the side.

"No, you think I can't handle it… And I would think that after today, you would see that, but I was obviously wrong. I'm going to ask for another partner, Stef. I can't have a partner that doesn't trust me."

"No, Callie," she shakes her head. "I do trust you. I just…I don't know how to think when it comes to any of my kids being in danger—"

"But I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a woman, I grown woman, who's a cop, and your partner. I went to the police academy just like you, and had my own training, not to mention the fact that I have a brain."

"I know you do, baby." I glare at her for calling me that in front of the two grown men that are staring at us strangely in the backseat of the car. I'm sure that they can hear our entire conversation. She looks at them too, "I'm sorry…Officer JacobFoster," she says awkwardly. "I know that you did the right thing, and it was me who messed up this time. It won't happen again."

I raise my eyebrows at her, surprised by her words.

She continues, "I'm just going to have learn to trust your instincts. But it's like that with every new partner that I have. It's a working progress, but please don't ask for a new partner, Callie. I'd rather you be with me than some other newbie."

"So you trust me?" I ask her.

Stef smiles, "Yes, Callie I trust you."

"And you think I can handle being a cop?"

"Yes, I know you can," she says as she pulls my head in and plants a kiss on my forehead.

I roll my eyes as she backs away. She puts her hands up in front of her in submission, "I'm backing off. I'm backing off."

"…And you promise not going to hover over me anymore? Or make me sit in a car all day?"

Stef hesitates before she answers, "…Yes."

I grab the car keys from her hand and start walking over to the other side of the car and unlock the driver's-side door, "Good… Because I am carrying your grandchild and wouldn't want that to affect what you just promised me…"

**TBC…**

**Don't hate me for the cliffhanger because I actually combined like 3 chapters into one right here :)**

**What do you think about the action in this one? And that revelation?**

**If you guys have ideas for future days on the job with these two, please give me some because I will definitely be needing the inspiration eventually.**

**And someone asked if the other family members would be included. The answer is of course yes. How could I forget about the twins? I definitely haven't :)**


	12. Chapter 12

_I should be studying for my two finals tomorrow, but I FREAKIN HATE SCHOOL! Fml. I'm procrastinating like you can't even believe. I need to stop. Seriously._

* * *

**Callie's P.O.V.**

I immediately enter the driver's side of the car and start the engine, waiting for Stef to open the passenger's side door and get inside.

She doesn't.

I don't even bother looking in her direction, because I'm so worried about what her face looks like.

"Okay…." I mumble to myself as I take out my phone to see if Brandon called or texted me.

_Nope._

"What'd you do to her?" the white male in the backseat asks me, as he stares at Stef curiously from the inside of the car.

"Why? What is she doing?" I ask him as I keep my eyes on my phone's screen.

"I don't think she's breathing," he answers. "She's standing, but she looks like she's about to pass out."

I sigh and finally look over and see her staring out into space, something I've never seen her do before.

_This is ridiculous. I should drive around the block a few times, and see if she's still here when I get back._

Instead, I beep the horn knowing that it would get some reaction out of her. She jumps at the loud sound and stares at me blankly.

I lower the passenger's-side widow all the way, so that she could hear me. "Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to help me take these guys in?"

After a few seconds I see her hand reach for the car door-handle and she gets inside of the car slowly.

I drive off immediately. All four of us sit in complete silence for a while, until I decide to raise the radio's volume. I have no idea whether she's staring at me or not, but I don't glance back at her either.

_I was not supposed to tell her._

Brandon and I promised to tell them all together, with the moms, Jesus, Mariana, and Gavin all there.

_But it was too good of a chance to miss._

She had just promised to back off, and I plunged at the opportunity.

Even though the radio was on, I had never heard such complete silence in my life.

I press harder on the gas just so we could get to the precinct faster.

_I need to get out of this car._

* * *

**Stef's P.O.V.**

As soon as we pull up, in front of the parking lot, Callie opens the car door and gets out.

I knew I had to say something and my silence wasn't helping anything, but I had no clue where to even start.

_All of this chaos in one day, and now Callie drops that bomb on me. _

_First her and Brandon show up out of the blue, after 5 years of absolutely no contact._

_Then, I find out Callie's a cop._

_To make matters worse, we almost got killed an hour ago._

_And now she's telling me that she's carrying my grandchild?_

_What the hell am I supposed to say?_

I'm taken out of my thoughts, the second I see her opening the backseat door and lifting one of the men out of the car, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?" And before I know it I'm grabbing the suspect from her.

"Uh...My job?" she gives me a questioning look.

"Uh…No," I answer as I slam the door back shut.

_What is she thinking?_ I wonder.

_I can't let her do this.  
_

_Especially now._

I start to walk the male back inside of the precinct and hand him over to another officer, "Attempted Robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault to a police officer," I tell him and the officer nods his head and grabs hold of the robber.

* * *

I walk back outside only to see Callie walking over with the other man.

"Hey!" I yell. She completely ignores me and continues to walk the guy inside. I reach over to grab him from her but she refuses to let go.

"I've got this, Stef!" she yells as she tries to yank him from me, but I tug on his other arm.

"Callie, let go!"

"No, you let go," she says with an angry tone.

"Is everything alright here?" Captain Roberts asks and she walks toward us.

Just as I was about to reply, Callie beats me to it, "Yes, mam. I was just about to take Mr. Ohara inside for booking."

_Oh, no she didn't! _I think as I glare at her, knowing that she did that on purpose.

"Go, on, Callie. I actually want a second with Stef anyway," the Captain says casually.

I stare after both of them as they walk into the building and fight the urge to follow them in, the second that they're out of my sight.

"Stef?"

"Yes, Captain?" I answer while still looking over her shoulder.

"Mind telling me what the hell was that?"

"What was what?" I ask innocently, hoping that she hadn't seen the entire debacle or that she wouldn't bring it up.

"You and your partner trying to tear, a cuffed man, in half just a few seconds ago."

I ignore her comment, "Did you know that she's pregnant?" I ask her, knowing that she had no clue, and assuming that it would shock her, just as much as it had shocked me.

"…Yes, she told me."

_What! She told my boss before me?_

"And you just let her go out there?" I ask accusingly.

Roberts crosses her arms, "Yes? Is that a problem?"

"That you let my pregnant daughter come to work with me, knowing just how dangerous it could be? Yes, that is a problem." I had never spoken with my Captain like this before, but we were talking about one of my children, and now my grandchild.

All fear: GONE.

"First off, Stef. Callie didn't come to work with you. She works here now. Second of all, she's pregnant. She's not disabled. Third off, I didn't let her do anything. She applied for this job on her own."

"Come on, Captain. You could've put her on light-duty, if you knew that she was pregnant. She shouldn't have been out there like that."

"Light-duty is optional, Stef. I can't force her to take it if she doesn't want to. It's against the law due to the PDA. AND Callie agreed that she would switch to light-duty, when she felt ready."

"Oh, she feels ready," I assure her.

Captain Roberts puts her hands up in submission, "Alright, Stef. I think you need to have this conversation with Callie."

"Oh, I will."

"But keep in mind, that she already has her mind made up. And she is an adult. She doesn't need your approval anymore, Stef… And also keep in mind that what just happened right now, you questioning me, will not be happening again. Is that clear?"

I cough nervously before I respond. "Yes, mam."

"Good."

tbc...

**Are you Pro-Callie or Pro-Stef on this one? I'm interested to know how you guys feel about it. **

**Next chapter: Will Stef calm down? If so, for how long? And there will be some Brallie in the next one (I know that many of you have been waiting for it)**


	13. Chapter 13

**So, I wanted to update yesterday, but this chapter was OD long. Sorry.**

* * *

**Callie's P.O.V.**

I walk out of the building and I could see Stef eyeing me. I knew that I was going to get crap from her, but I also hoped that Captain Roberts would keep her company long enough, so that I could reach my car and get out of here.

It was already 5:30, so that meant that my workday was over.

I was free to go home.

I practically run over to my black Honda civic and turn on the ignition, just praying that the Captain would keep her busy long enough so that I could get out of the parking lot.

Just as I put the car in reverse, I hear my passenger-side door open.

_Oh no,_ I think to myself as Stef forces herself inside.

_Stay strong Callie. _

_Don't let her get to you._

_Whatever she says doesn't matter._

_You're an adult now, who can make her own decisions._

She closes the door behind her and the kid in me wants to jump out of the window.

But then I remember,

_You came here, Callie._

_This was your choice._

_Show her that you've matured._

I try to put on my bravest face as she turns around to look at me.

"What are you doing, Callie?" she says calmly, as she raises her hand to her forehead.

"What do you mean?" I ask innocently.

"You can't be out on patrol while you're pregnant," she answers in an angry tone.

I sigh, "…It's my job, Stef."

"You can keep your job. Just opt for light-duty."

_What the hell?_

"Light-duty? You mean sitting at a stupid desk all day, filing papers. Just because I'm two months pregnant? Absolutely not," I answer with certainty.

"You have to! This isn't a game, Callie."

"Don't you think I know that? How stupid do you think I am, Stef?"

"I don't think you're stupid. I just don't think you're taking into consideration the direness of the situation."

"What situation? That I'm pregnant, and I'm also a hard-working woman?"

"No, that you're pregnant and you're putting yourself in harms way everyday."

I knew that she wasn't going to let this go, but neither was I. I've adopted this stubborn trait from her and I was going to use it.

"I already told Captain Roberts that I would switch to light-duty, when I felt ready. When I felt like I couldn't do my job anymore. Right now, I don't feel incapable of working out on the field. For God's sake, Stef. I'm not even showing," I gesture to my body so that she would get the point.

"You can tell her you've changed your mind. That you've thought about it some more, and you want to switch."

"But I haven't."

She glares at me, "Then, I'm doing it for you."

_Is she serious?_ I wonder.

"You can't force me to do something that I don't want to Stef. I'm not a little kid, I don't live under your roof anymore, and I'm not disabled! I can do my job just as well as anyone else in this precinct, and I don't need your approval on this!"

She tries to remain calm as she reaches for my arm, "I understand that, Callie. But you're carrying a child inside of you. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be on the job like this? This is a time where you have to put this baby first. Another incident like the one we had today and—"

"Are you serious right now?" I snap as I move farther away from her. "Don't you dare call me selfish, Stef. You of all people should be behind me on this. I'm having a baby, yes. But that doesn't automatically make me incapable of doing my job. And I can take care of myself. You just told me that you trusted me. That I could handle this job—"

"That was before I knew you were pregnant."

_What!_ I want to scream.

I take a deep breath, "What does me being pregnant change? I'm not very far along, Stef. I can still do my job and run just as fast as you. I shouldn't be getting discriminated against, just because I'm choosing to keep my career and have a family. Least of all, by you."

"I'm not discriminating, Callie—"

"No, you're worse. You're being a hypocrite."

"Callie, you better calm down. Right now!"

"What I choose to do, with my job and my family, has nothing to do with you. You can either accept it, or don't. But this is my life and I can make my own decisions now. I'm keeping my job and I'm keeping my kid, so I think this conversation is about done."

Stef just stared at me, dumbfounded, as if she expected me to give into her requests without a second thought. She began opening the car door to get out before I grabbed her attention, "Stef?"

She didn't even bother turning her gaze completely toward me, but still stopped to listen.

"…I know that I'm not in any position to be asking for any favors, but… Can you please not tell anyone the news yet? I promised Brandon that we would tell everyone together, and I don't want to ruin that for him. Please? I'm begging you."

She finally looked me in the eyes, "You're asking me to lie to your Mama, and my wife?" she asks, as if I had just slapped her.

"No, I'm asking you to hold-off on telling everyone the news, so that you don't take the joy of letting your son tell them. I know it's hard to believe, but there's at least one person besides me, who's excited about this… Obviously not you—"

"Callie," Stef says sympathetically.

Thankfully my cell-phone rings, which causes her to stop talking. I grab it from its spot on the coffee holder, and I see that it's Brandon, "Look, Brandon expected me home like an hour ago…"

Stef nods her head. "We'll see you later for dinner then?"

"Yeah," I answer, even though dinner with Stef was the last thing I had in mind at the moment.

"Good, we'll talk more about all of this then," she says as she closes my passenger-side door.

* * *

_**This next part will be rated M for sexual content. Brallie haters beware.**_

* * *

**Brandon's P.O.V.**

I watch as my wife walks through our apartment door and plops herself onto the couch. She lays down, sighs, and covers her eyes with her arm.

I walked up to the couch, unwilling to hide my anger any longer, "I've been calling you like crazy, Cal. Where have you been? You haven't answered any of my texts or anything. Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

She sighs again, "Brandon, I'm sorry."

I could tell she had been crying by her voice, and I automatically assume the worse. "Callie, what happened?" I say as I take a seat on the edge of the couch and attempt to move her arm from her face, to get her to look at me. I couldn't stand to see her like this, and her emotions have been heightened lately.

"I can't do this, Brandon. I thought I could, but I can't," she cried, as she looked at me with a desperate look in her eyes.

"What happened? What changed?" I ask angrily, and I knew that my mother must've said something to get to her.

She lets out a deep breath. "Just…Ugh! Nothing," she answers flatly as she turns over and tries to bury her face into the couch.

"Callie, you have to talk to me. Please talk to me," I beg. I hate it when she tries to close me out. We've been through so much together, and we've always told each other everything. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep me out of her head for much longer.

"What's there to talk about? The fact that my own mother doesn't trust me enough, to let me do my job? Or the fact that she's trying to control me now, more than ever?"

"What do you mean? What happened?"

She stays silent for a while. "Callie?" I continue, letting her know that I wasn't going away.

"She doesn't want me as a partner," she mutters.

"Babe, you know that's not true," I say as I place my hand on her lap.

"Really? Because all day today, she's been acting as if I wasn't even there. She made me stay in the car the entire time. And then yelled at me, the second that I decided to do something."

"Babe, she's just being protective. She's our mother and doesn't want to see you get hurt."

"But, I don't need her protection and I'm not going to get hurt. I can handle myself."

"I know you can. But she's our mom, Cal…She's always going to feel like she has to protect you."

"That's a problem!" she yells at me. "She's my partner, for Christ's sake. How are either of us supposed to do our jobs, if she's too busy keeping me from doing mines."

I tried my best to refrain from laughing at my wife. Personally, I hated the idea of Callie becoming a cop, and I knew that my mother would hate it too. I just hoped that she could talk some sense into Callie and convince her to go on light duty, which is what I had been trying to do ever since I found out that she was pregnant. But of course, I was unsuccessful.

"Callie—"

"No! If you say I told you so, I will strangle you," she says as she turns her head around to glare at me.

"I wouldn't say that and you know it. I just think you both need to talk it out, calmly," I tell her as I turn her body all the way around, so that it's now facing me.

"You say that as if it's so easy," she says, and I can see the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I know that it's not, and I'm sorry my mom is giving you such a hard time," I say as I lean my face closer to hers.

I try to fight the urge to kiss her, after seeing her so distraught, but at the same time I feel like it's exactly what she needs. I gently press my lips onto hers, and she lifts her palm to my cheek and kisses me right back. I lift my lips from hers and wipe away the tears that had escaped her eyes. "You know that I love you, right?" I tell her.

She gazes up at me and stokes her thumb on my face, "I know you do."

"And you know the last thing that I want to see is my pregnant wife crying over some stupid argument with my mom, an argument that we both know will be forgotten by tomorrow."

She smiles and places her other hand over my neck. And we both know what always happens after that.

She pulls me in closer, and I press my lips against hers, slowly entering my tongue into her mouth, causing her to open her eyes suddenly. Then, I place my knee in between her legs, and she immediately spreads them apart, as she reaches for my chest and begins unbuttoning my collared-shirt.

I lift my face from hers before we continue, "Are you sure, you're okay?"

She nods her head, "Please," she begs and I don't dare take another second before I press my lips against hers again, this time more forcefully.

She finishes taking my shirt off, and I then start unbuttoning hers slowly. As soon as I remove it completely, I place my hands on her delicate skin and around her stomach, lowering my lips from hers to her neck, and then to the belly of where my unborn child is. I look up at her face to make sure that she's okay, but all I can see is her hands pushing hard against the arm of the couch.

I smile at the sound of her heavy breathing and at the sight of her bare neck from above me. And I begin to loosen the belt of her uniform.

"Keep going, Brandon. Please," she says and I do just as she asks.

Normally, it's always me begging for sex. But now that she was pregnant, her hormones were taking control, which I of course didn't mind at all.

As soon as I take both her pants and her underwear off, I make my way back to her lips. I lower my own jeans and underwear quickly, before my wife could change her mind.

I listen to her desperate moans, as I enter her body and stare at the scrunched up face, she always made whenever this happened. I could never get tired of seeing that expression, as I admire every single thing about it. My lips press against hers again, as I push myself in and out of her slowly, watching the satisfied look on her face as she keeps her eyes closed. Her lips move away from mines, as she let out the loudest moan that I had ever heard. I smile when I hear it, and it just gives me the motivation to satisfy her even more. I gradually, begin to thrush myself inside of her harder and faster. But still gentle enough not to hurt her. She grabs hold of my shoulders and arches her back and that's when I knew that we were almost finished. I continue to kiss every inch of her chest, and she moves her hands from my back to the back of my head, running her fingers through my hair as she moans again.

After a few minutes of this, I pull out of her gently, and sink my body down next to her, placing my hand over her belly.

She gasps for breaths and turns her head to face me and smiles, "That was beyond amazing."

"You're telling me. I think I'm beginning to like this little guy," I tell her as I place my left hand on top of her belly.

"You think?" she asks in a confused but joking way. "And what makes you so sure it's a little guy?"

"Just a feeling," I answer.

"Well, I think that it's a girl," she says as she stares at the ceiling.

"We'll just have to wait and see who's right then, huh?" I joke as I bring her body closer to mines, and she leans her head onto my upper-chest.

"Oh, I know I'm right," she says playfully as she kisses my nose.

"I'll love you both no matter what," I assure her as I close my eyes.

It's moments like these, that always remind us what why we're doing all that we're doing.

It would all be worth it at the end.

**TBC…**

**Okay, so I actually never write sex-scenes. But I felt this fic was missing something, so that's what happened there. Hope the Brallie lovers enjoyed it at least.**

**As always, thanks for reading and please review.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Stef's P.O.V.**

I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation, Callie and I had, on the entire ride back home.

Captain Roberts warned me not to get involved, that it wasn't my decision, but I just couldn't help myself.

_This wasn't her family._

_It wasn't her daughter putting herself in harms way everyday, for nine hours a day._

_It was mine's. _

_Callie was MY daughter. _

_And the child she held inside of her was MY grandchild._

I was going to talk some sense into her, if it was the last thing I did.

* * *

I open the back door and see my wife chopping vegetables in the kitchen.

She smiles at me, "You're home kind of late this evening."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Something came up at the last minute, and I forgot to text you," I answer. I couldn't let her know the truth. Despite how pissed off I was about the situation, I couldn't tell her the baby news.

I knew that it wasn't my news to tell.

It was Callie's and Brandon's.

"How was your first day at work, with your new partner?" she asked with a smile on her face.

_If only she knew._

"It was interesting. To say the least," I gave her a quick peck on the lips, in hopes that she'd just accept the vagueness of my answer.

"Interesting, how so?" she asked curiously.

_Damn._

"Well, your daughter decided not to listen to a word I said, for starters," I answered flatly.

"My daughter?" Lena asked in a confused tone.

"Yes, your daughter."

"Why is she all of a sudden 'my daughter"'?" she smiles, as if she could tell there was an interesting story coming on.

"Because my daughter would've listened to me," I answered as I grab a soda from the fridge and turn back to look at her.

She was still smiling, "Really? I take it there's more to the story than that." I gave her a straight face and she took that as an opportunity to keep the conversation going, "What'd she do?"

"Nothing. Just forget it."

She quickly lost the smile, "Stef?"

"Honey, you know that you don't like it, when I talk about my work," I reminded her as I took a seat on one of the stools.

"Yes. But that was before I knew that OUR daughter was there with you."

Awkward silence.

"We had a little of a fight," I admitted.

"What kind of a fight?"

"She got mad because I told her to observe while I worked today."

"So, wait. You made her sit in the car?" Lena was completely baffled by what she just heard.

"No, she was supposed to sit in the car and observe, so that she could get a better feel for the job, before she actually had to do it," I answered nervously, in hopes that my wife would just drop the subject. I knew that my reasoning sucked, but it made sense earlier.

"So, basically yes. You made her sit in the car?" Lena asked again as she crossed her arms over her chest and gave me her typical disapproving look.

"Yes, but it didn't even matter, because she ended up walking right into a robbery anyways, so…"

"What?" Lena raised her voice.

I looked up at my wife and saw the worry that appeared all over her face, the lines on her forehead and the jaw-dropping facial expression. I quickly regretted mentioning the robbery in the first place, "Nothing, babe. It was nothing."

"What do you mean it was nothing? Stef, you don't get to do that."

"Do what?"

"You don't get to slip the fact, that my wife and daughter walked into a robbery today, into casual conversation."

"We're both fine, Love."

"I can see that, but—"

"It's our job."

Lena took a deep breath before she continued, and I could tell that she was losing her patience with me, "So, what happened?"

I looked at her for a long time, wondering if she could take the details. "She walked into the corner store to buy some coffee and saw that there was a robbery going on. Then she turned on her walkie, so that I could hear. I went in, and we arrested them. That's pretty much it."

"How many men were there?"

"Two."

"Did they have any weapons?"

"Yes. But so did we," I tried to remind her. I didn't want her getting all upset over the situation. "We had in under control, babe." I gave her a soft-smile so that she wouldn't realize that I was lying.

"Then why is Callie angry with you?" she asked.

* * *

"Because I kind of yelled at her afterwards," I said as I began walking into the living room.

"Stef!" she scolded.

"What?" I asked innocently as I took a seat on the sofa.

"You can't yell at her for doing her job."

I rolled my eyes_. If only she knew all of it._

Lena continued as she took a seat next to me, "Look, like it or not, Callie's a cop."

"I know that."

"And you can't yell at her for doing her job, just because you're scared for her."

"But—"

She interrupted me, "Do you really want to lose them again? When we just got them back?"

"No. Why would you even ask that?"

"Because that's what's going to happen, if you keep this up. This is exactly what happened last time. Remember? We tried to tell them what to do, and they did the exact opposite. They left. I'm not going to let history repeat itself and neither are you."

I couldn't help, but let a few tears fill my eyes at the thought of all of that happening again. All of the memories of the day Brandon and Callie went missing started flooding back.

My wife was right. She was right 5 years ago and she's right now.

I can't bear to make the same mistake I made that day, at the courthouse.

I can't bear losing two of my children all over again, even if that meant swallowing my pride this time. "Alright, my love. You win," I say and rest my head on her lap.

"No, we all win," she smiled back, as she ran her fingers through my hair, letting me drift off to sleep.

Tbc…

* * *

_**Okay so this was just a filler-chapter, kinda. I wanted to write this scene before the dinner, so there's not so much tension. But of course there WILL be drama. It's what I'm best at :)**_

_**Let's hope Stef eases up a little, like she says she's going to. Mariana and Jesus will be popping up soon. And let's not forget that Jude is totally pissed at B and Callie.**_

_**Predictions for the dinner? Will the baby news come out? If so, how?**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Mariana's P.O.V.**

"Gavin, what did I tell you about going through my purse?" I ask my little brother, whom I catch with both of his little hands digging through my new bag.

He freezes and turns around. He knows he's caught, but he stares at me as if he's about to cry.

"Don't give me that face, mister," I say as I walk over to him and grab my purse from his hands. I know exactly what he's looking for, but I move slowly anyway, as I unzip the front zipper of my purse and take out a cherry flavored lollipop. I pretend I'm going to hand it to him, but quickly move it back quickly, "Next time, ask me. Okay?"

He nods his head, "I zorry." I finally hand it over to him, "Thank you, Mari."

"Yeah, don't tell Moms where you got it from," I warn. "And don't let them see you eating it either."

He shakes his head and runs out of the living room and up the stairs. I can't help but smile at how sneaky I'm making him. _He's definitely going to take after me, _I think to myself.

I walk over to the kitchen to finish helping Mama with dinner.

"Mom and I are so happy that you and your brother were able to come over for dinner, on such short notice" she smiles.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about?" I urge.

"It's a surprise."

"I don't do well with surprises," I inform her.

"You'll do just fine with this one," Mama answers as she places her hand over my shoulder and then removes it.

We are both startled, when we hear the back door slam. Jude storms in.

"Hey, Jude," I say. But he doesn't respond and walks right passed us.

Mama sighs.

"What's his problem?" I ask her.

"Oh, he's fine…Mariana, can you finish chopping these," she points to the zucchinis. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Yeah, no problem," I smile at her as she leaves the room, because I already know she's going to talk with Jude. _She should get him to calm down_, I think to myself.

I'm taken out of my thoughts the second my text tone goes off. I run over to grab my cell from my purse, and I could see the text is from Callie. I open it and it reads, "B and I are coming over for dinner tonight. Act surprised."

_Oh crap! _I think to myself. I knew that this day would have to come, but I was hoping in another five years maybe?

I text back, "Okay, I'll tell Jesus. See you then."

I immediately call Jesus but he doesn't answer. I call again, but still nothing, so I leave a voicemail, "Look, I don't know if Callie and Brandon told you but they're coming over to Moms' house for dinner. So remember to act like you haven't seen them in 5 years. Call me back as soon as you get this." I hang up.

I'm praying that Jesus gets my voicemail or he gets here before Callie and Brandon show up, so that I can explain things to him. If Moms find out that we've been in contact with them for three out of the five years that they haven't been here, they'd hate us. They wouldn't care about the fact that we've been trying to convince Brandon and Callie to come back, ever since they first contacted us. Moms would think that we'd betrayed them.

And if they did, we couldn't blame them.

**Tbc… **


	16. Chapter 16

**Lena's P.O.V.**

As soon as Jude came in the house and slammed the door, I knew I had enough. I asked Mariana to finish chopping the rest of the vegetables and headed upstairs after him.

The moment I reached to the top, I heard his bedroom door slam shut. Stef heard the sound and ran out of our own bedroom, "What the hell is that about?"

"Yes it was. I forgot to mention that Jude isn't exactly happy about Callie and Brandon coming back."

"I figured that much," she said flatly.

I nod my head, "Did you also figure, that he almost pummeled Brandon into the ground today in my office?"

"Who? Jude?" she asked in a surprised voice.

"Yes, Jude… He said that Brandon took Callie from him, and that he was the reason Callie didn't become part of this family."

Stef rolled her eyes and sighed, but I continued, "…Then he stormed out of my office, cut all of his afternoon classes, and now, he just got back."

"You want to talk to him or should I?" Stef asked.

We both knew that one of us was going to have to do it.

I took a second to think about her question. To be honest, I wanted to be the one to talk to him, because I felt like I always had more of a connection with Jude then any of the other kids. But he already walked out on me once today. Stef noticed my hesitation and smiled, grabbing my arm and leading us both towards Jude's bedroom, "Come on."

* * *

**Jude's P.O.V.**

I hear someone knocking on my bedroom door, and I already know its one of my moms, so I grab my headphones from my bed, place them on my ears, and turn on my mP3 player, raising it to the highest volume that it would go.

I can feel them come in, and that's when I realized that I didn't lock the door. I hear them both attempting to talk to me, but I can't make out what they're saying through the headphones.

Not surprisingly, I feel Mom remove them from my ears, "Are you even listening to us?"

"No," I answer flatly.

She takes a deep breath before she continues, "…All right Jude. Listen, we know that this is difficult for you—"

"Really? Did your sister leave you alone, to go be with some guy and just come back like nothing has changed?"

"Callie didn't leave you alone, Jude," Mom answers.

Mama buds in, "She trusted us to take care of you. She knew that you wouldn't be alone."

"How can you defend her? She took your son away from you too!" I yell as I try to grab my headphones back from my nightstand to put them on, but Mom grabs them into her own hand, so that I couldn't drown their voices out.

I couldn't understand how my moms could just welcome my sister with open arms. _How could they just continue with their lives, as if the past 5 years hadn't happened? _

Mama sat on my bed, "Honey, Callie didn't take Brandon away from us. They both made the decision to leave together. And they are still part of this family. We forgave them, and they forgave us. That's what families do. They accept each other's mistakes, and forgive them anyway."

"Well, Callie stopped being part of my family the day she left me…She chose Brandon over me after she promised that she'd never leave me."

"Jude, You know that Callie loves you very much. She always has," Mom tries to assure me.

"If she really loved me, she would've never left. She was selfish!" I yell. I wasn't going to let Callie get away with what she'd done. I wasn't going to let her get away with all of the pain she caused me, when she disappeared with our foster brother and never came back for me.

"And what did you want her to do, Jude? Did you want her to stay here, get adopted, and have her and Brandon both be miserable, so that you could be happy?" Mom asks.

Mama continues, "Jude, we all know that Callie has been protecting you, her entire life. You can't call her selfish, for making the first decision that she ever made to make her happy."

"Mama's absolutely right Jude. You know, and I know, that Callie still loves you more than anything. That kind of love just doesn't go away."

_God! Why did these two always have to be so right all the time?_ I think to myself.

_Was I really so selfish that I didn't even recognize that this was the only thing Callie ever did for herself? _

"Jude?" Mama tries to grab my attention.

"Do you think she'll forgive me too?" I finally ask.

Mama wraps her arms around me and kisses my forehead, which she knows I hate now, but she does it anyway, "Oh, of course she will."

Tbc…

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**Okay. And I know that my chapters are pretty short for this fic, because I got a couple complaints about it. But that's the only way that I can update so often. Otherwise, I'll get kind of lazy and bored and might only update weekly, rather than every day or every other day etc. **

**The dinner will definitely be taking place next chapter. Do you guys want me to do the separate scenes for it, like I've been doing? (This will cause for more frequent and shorter updates) Or do you want me to break it down into like 2 or 3 parts (with longer chapters, but won't be updated that often) Lmk…**

**And I'll be updating Green Eyed Monster in a couple of hours. I'm about to type up the next chapter. And maybe The Aftermath later, so if you haven't voted for that one, I suggest you do so immediately.**

**Thanks for reading :)**


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